Figure Skating
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In the Grand Prix debut stage comes also the fourth place of twenty year old Matteo Rizzo in the men's race.
Monday 22 October 2018 6 minutes reading time
The first round of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating ended in Everett, Washington, near Detroit.
In the Dance they are imposed, and is their first victory in a Grand Prix test, the world champions and fourth place at the PyeongChang Olympics, the US Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue who are the best in both segments of the race and close with 200.82 points. After having collected four fourth places in previous editions of the Grand Prix, the first podium for the Italians Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri arrives. The students of Barbara Fusar Poli file a solid performance that allows them to close in second place both the Rhytm Dance and the Free Dance and to close at 192.30 points. First podium at the Grand Prix in career also for the Russian couple composed by Tiffani Zagorski and Jonathan Guerreiro who, despite two penalties for extended lifts, manage to defend themselves against the return of the 2016 junior world champions, Lorraine McNamara and Quinn Carpenter. At the end of the Free Dance the podium is decided on the edge of tenths of a point: the Russians close to 181.38 against the 180.57 of the Americans that with the fourth place in any case get the best placement in a Grand Prix career.
In the women's race, the Japanese Satoko Miyahara won the bronze medal in the last edition of the World Championships and the Four Continents, which prevails in the two segments of the race and ends with the seasonal best of 219.71 points ahead of compatriot Kaori Sakamoto and repeating the first two positions of the podium of the last edition of SkateAmerica; the Four Continents champion closes with 213.90 points. The US national champion Bradie Tennell (192.89) fails to complete the photocopy of the podium of the last edition of the stage with stars and stripes and is preceded by the sixteen Russian Sofia Samodurova who closes his first appearance in a test of the Senior Grand Prix with the third position and 198.70 points.
On Saturday, Natan Chen, reigning world champion, dominated the men's test by imposing himself with more than 40 points on the margin on the runner-up. The 19-year-old Salt Lake City reaches 280.57 points while it is undisputed according to the Czech Michal Brezina that with 239.51 points back on the podium of a Grand Prix trial that had been missing for almost four years, Rostelecom 2014. While sinking the Malay Julian Zhi Jie Yee, a surprise third in the Short Program and seventh at the end of the race, the fight for the third step of the podium sees three skaters in the space of 7 tenths of a point. To get the better with 226.44 points is the Russian Sergei Voronov who doubles the third position in the last edition of SkateAmerica and precedes an excellent Matteo Rizzo that, on the debut in a Grand Prix senior test, stops at 225.81 points. The twenty-year-old pupil of his father Valter and Franca Bianconi, the first Italian to win a medal at the Junior World Championships and a test of the Junior Grand Prix, puts the fourth place ahead of 6 hundredths of a point (he will do them on October 25th) US Vincent Zhou.
In the pairs of Artistic, the European champions in charge and vicecampioni of the world, the Russians Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov are imposed with margin, with 204.85 points. The other two podium steps go to two pairs for their first time in the first three positions of a Grand Prix race. They keep the second place despite some imperfections in the free program the Russians Alisa Efimova and Alexander Korovin (178.98) while they climb on the third step of the podium Ashley Cain and Timothy Leduc (175.06), vicecampioni in charge of the Four Continents.
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